The moonlight was filtering through the leaves of the trees as the last customer left Moonflower. Aoi is all but ecstatic as she hangs up the "Closed" sign, internally grateful for the increase in business that Moonflower has been recently blessed with. She stands outside to appreciate the tranquility of the night before quickly going back inside.

Ginji and Kasuga had already left. Ginji had told her that he would be leaving early in the morning to meet with some food providers in the northern land, and thus had to leave to finish preparing for his trip; he had been most apologetic about not being able to help clean up. As for Kasuga, she also left earlier on because she needed to complete her responsibilities at Tenjin'ya before she could retire for the night. This left Aoi alone to do the clean up on her own, not that she minded since she was ever grateful for the support she and Moonflower have gotten.

Clean up is a usually time-consuming and tiring ordeal for Aoi, however her desire to get into bed motivates her, especially since she has the next day off. Her enthusiasm drives her to quickly finish washing and drying all the dishes and wiping down and resetting all the tables. Once she has finished up, she heads into her room to retire for the night.

While in the middle of preparing her futon, she is startled by the sounds of someone walking about outside the side entrance.

"Eh, who could that be?" Aoi finishes arranging her bedding then heads towards the entrance. She slides it open, welcoming the slight breeze that enters. However, no one's there. She walks onto the engawa and glances out into the shadowed garden. However, she sees no one around.

"Strange, I thought I heard someone walking about out here," Aoi mutters to herself. As she moves to go back inside, she is astonished to notice an ornate chest sitting innocently in front of the sliding door off to the side.

"What is this?"

There is a small piece of paper attached to the top. Descending down to inspect the gift, she removes the letter first and reads the message written in elegant calligraphy:

It seems that Moonflower is doing well, good job. Keep up the good work.

However, you must take care of yourself as well.

I hope you find these things pleasing.

There is no signature from the giver, but it is unnecessary. Aoi rereads the message, touched by its sincerity, then gently stores the note away.

Since it is too dark outside to inspect her gift, Aoi begins to move the chest inside. After some effort, the chest itself being quite heavy, Aoi finally gets the chest into her sleeping room, but not without complaining.

"You would think he would place his gifts in a lighter container," Aoi grumbles as she closes the shoji door. Straightening herself up to stretch her aching back, she glances again at the chest, which appears more opulent and stunning beneath the light of her room.

"Well," she sighs, "let's see what's inside."

Aoi sits down before the box and takes a moment to truly admire the chest, her face radiating with amazement. While outside, she was unable to appreciate the beauty and decor of the wooden box, but bathed in the light of her room, the chest's magnificent is immediately apparent. The rich color of the wood is adorned with hand-painted patterns and intricate engravings of koi fishes along the sides and top of the chest. She opens the chest up and gasps in delight by its content.

Inside the chest, she finds a beautiful kimono. It is a soft blue color and is decorated with sangria and white azaleas. Beneath it, there are two bars of scented soaps, one citrus and the other jasmine, a new tasuki cord in a pale pink color, and a bag of ripe peaches.

"Wow," Aoi breathes out as she admires the gifts, her eyes shining happily as she studies each item. "The kimono is so pretty," she lauds as she holds it up before her, taking in the details of the flowers. She carefully sets it back into the chest, then picks up the soaps, smelling each of them individually. "Waa, they smell so nice. Which one should I use? " Aoi's face twists into a thoughtful frown, her mind instantly burdened with a difficult choice. She then remembers the bath that Shizuna had prepared for her during her brief stay at Tenjin'ya:

"Hmm...I thought I smelled the sweet scent of citrus." Ōdanna breathed as he took in her scent. His eyes had an appreciative glint in them as he gazed at her. "Was it the sweet summer bath?"

As if awakening from a trance, Aoi gasps at her lack of control, feeling embarrassed that she recalled that particular interaction with Ōdanna-sama. As if a dam was opened, she remembers the full-course the Chief Chef prepared for them before he left for the Apparent Realm, along with how she lingered, long after his ship was out of sight, and felt a strong longing to see him again, to hear his voice and to know she was safely in his presence...

"Aah, get a hold of yourself!" Aoi shakes her head, as if to shake off the thoughts that have infiltrated her conscience so easily. In an attempt to clear her mind, Aoi hastily makes a choice. "I guess I'll use this one tonight during my bath." She keeps the citrus soap while placing the jasmine-scented one back into the chest; she may be able to use it later on in the future.

Noticing how late it is getting, Aoi is spurred into action, getting up and grabbing the rest of her bathing things before leaving to head to the bath house. As she does so, she passes by Chibi, who is fast asleep on top of a pillow next to her futon. She giggles quietly, "What a follower I have, eating and sleeping to his content."

Aoi steps outside, closing the shoji door behind her. She looks up and spares a moment to enjoy the sight of the moon-lit night sky and relax a bit. The moon's beauty reminds her of the letter, which is still tucked safely within the flaps of her kimono. Her cheeks warm up as she remembers the contents of the letter.

Noting how late it is getting, Aoi quickly makes her way towards the bath house to bathe and unwind. However, she did not notice that as she made her way towards the baths, the glowing amber eyes of a certain master innkeeper followed her feminine figure until it disappeared from sight, both on her way to and from the bath house. Fortunately, she was spared the visage of the satisfied smirk he wore as he sat in the comfort of his rooms smoking his kiseru, appearing very much like the fearsome kijin he is.

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

When Aoi returned, clean and dressed in a new yukata, she finishes preparing for bed. She moves the chest and stores in inside one of the closets. She then grabs the bags of peaches and goes into the kitchen to put them away. As she places them into a bowl, wondering what she could make with them.

"Does he like sweets?" She ponders out loud as she walks back to her room. "Is dorayaki his favorite food? But, he seems to like savory dishes also. Hmm, but it's hard to say what his preferences are. His demeanor doesn't make him the most approachable ayakashi either, although he's become much kinder as of late, not nearly as unforgiving as he was before. Ah..." Perplexed by her pointless rambling, Aoi flushes in embarrassment and shakes her head vehemently. "What am I even saying? Get a grip on yourself, Aoi!"

Aoi sighs, exasperated by how constant her thoughts stray towards Ōdanna-sama, and sits down upon her futon. She continues going through different recipes that could use the fragrant peaches. However, after spending endless minutes thinking through every dessert recipe she knows, she is unable to think of anything that she's either made or had that could well encompass the flavor peaches.

"Ahh, why can't I think of anything!" Aoi complains, running her fingers through her chestnut hair in an effort to calm down. As she looks down, the pink of her sleeping yukata against her white futon. The colors reminds her of a dessert she once saw in a store display while on her way to school.

"That's it," she exclaims, "I can make that!" She stands up and rushes out to find a piece of paper and her pen. She quickly writes something onto the paper and leaves it on her writing table.

"I'll need to get some ingredients tomorrow, though. Ah, but Ginji will be gone." Troubled by her predicament, Aoi stops writing momentarily, unsure of what she can do. Everyone will be busy given that the festival event is only a few days away, so who would be available whom she could ask to accompany her?

A certain ayakashi comes to mind.

"I guess I'll have to ask him to accompany me." She finishes up, returns to her room, and proceeds to turn off the light before getting into her futon to rest for the night. As she settles in, she sighs contently as her body conforms to the soft futon. She closes her eyes and takes in a deep breath. The smell of oranges surround her, relaxing her further.

"Good night," she murmurs into the darkness as her tired mind finds solace in sleep.

Vocabulary:

tasuki = a sash used to hold up kimono sleeves for convenience of movement

engawa = a veranda-like structure, running along the perimeter of traditional Japanese houses, that is often made of wood or bamboo

kiseru = traditional Japanese smoking pipe

*kijin = ogre god

*I'm using the translated term from the anime subtitles.

Author's Note:

Thank you all for reading, and I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. No interaction yet between Ōdanna and Aoi, but they'll interact soon. Next chapter will be posted in a few days, so please stay tuned for that. Please review - I'd love to hear what you guys think of the story so far!